Another weekend away

Hi guys, I just wanted to stop in quickly and let ya'll know that we are leaving in the Morning for Michigan for Richard's brothers wedding. We get back Sunday night and I'll be checking up on all your blogs when we're back in town.

Wish me luck up there in the cold:)

Shoe Mileage

How many miles do ya'll typically get out of one pair of running shoes? This latest pair is the only pair I have ever actually tracked how many miles they have on them. I'm at 350, and I think it's time for some new ones. After work yesterday I walked the bridge with a couple friends and after walking 5 miles my feet were killing me! I didn't know if it was just because I'm not used to walking that far, only running, and/or if my shoes are worn out. What say you??

Confession time: I have only run one mile in the past week. One lame mile, and it wasn't even very fast. I have walked 5 miles and gone to Body Pump twice. Ok, I take that back. I did run 3 last Saturday but it seems like forever ago so I almost forgot to count it. So weekly total is 4 miles run, 5 miles walked, 2 weights classes. I'm shooting to run a minimum of 10 miles per week so I definitely didn't meet my quota this week.

TGIF!!! I decided very last minute (a couple days ago) to fly to Arkansas today for one of my best friend's baby showers. She and her husband live in northeastern AR so I'm actually flying into Memphis tonight since that's the closest airport to where they live. She's due in November, and I haven't seen her since May so I'm excited to see that belly and to see some friends I haven't seen in over a year. I'm excited!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Workout Update

Since cutting out the long runs, I've been doing several short runs a week and mixing in a couple Body Pump classes a week as well. It has been great because Rich and I have been taking the dogs running almost every day, which we weren't able to do before. With the heat, and their out-of-shapeness, they can't really do more than a mile at a time. When we were running longer runs, we liked to go places like the Bridge, beach, or trails instead of just running in the neighborhood so the dogs never got to go. Now we have a couple of one-mile loops that we like around our house, and we can stop by the house between miles to swap out dogs. There's nothing like a floor full of panting, tired and happy dogs!

Body Pump is going well. I'm trying to do some general toning, and I like that you keep your heartrate up for most of the class so it feel like an aerobic workout a little bit in addition to just a strength workout.

There are a couple of 5Ks in October that I think we'll be signing up for. I'm ready to run some races, even if I take them at an easy pace, just to be in that race atmosphere that is so much fun.

I hope ya'll had a great weekend. I worked all weekend and my beloved Arkansas Razorbacks lost to the Georgia Bulldogs last night, so all in all NOT my favorite weekend ever but we're both off tomorrow so I just have to make it thru the next 8 hours!

A red lipstick day

What gives you that extra oomph, that "yeah, I look good, let's do this" feeling? A power tie? Certain shoes? For me, it's red lipstick. I usually stick to nudes, corals or pinks but sometimes I just have to pull out the red. And...it appears to be all the rage (is that term even used anymore?) for fall this year.

This might seem superficial, and at first glance it is. Who cares what color lipstick you're wearing? Nobody really, but just like a great fitting pair of jeans or a perfect new haircut, anything that makes you feel better is important, even if it's just a $5 tube of lipstick from Wal-Mart. Whether for a meeting at work, a night out on the town, or just hanging out at the house, sometimes the red lipstick mood strikes. It just gives me a little boost, a little shock, that is nice sometimes. Today was a red lipstick day. I wasn't very psyched about going to work, and for some reason I instinctively reached for red. It changed my whole attitude. It's like when I swiped that scarlet on my lips, my glass went from half empty to half full and I had a new spring in my step. It's not a kiss-me look, more of an I'll-kick-your-a$$ look.

What does it for you? What is your personal version of red lipstick that gives you that little edge and always makes you feel like a million bucks?

Ladies--do you actually wear bold red lipstick? If so, why? If not, why not?

Gents--what's your take? Rich is not a fan, he says it looks too severe and I agree, but that's part of the charm for me.

Lacking motivation

Since taking marathon training off the table, I'm having a hard time getting out there and getting shorter runs in. My motivation is seriously in need of a boost. Right now I'm laying on the couch in my running clothes so that I'll be that much closer to getting out the door. Actually, Rich and I leashed up a couple of the dogs about an hour ago and made it about 40 steps before we realized it was too hot for them to run so we came back home with plans to head out again later when it cools off. Those of you who have had injuries or had to cancel races for any reason, how did you stay motivated?

We have had a great weekend. Friday I met my friend Erin downtown for a drink and some girl-talk. Yesterday Rich and I cooked and then took food over to Brian and Erin's. Their little baby is allergic to dogs and cats, so they can't come to our house :( I made homemade pesto chicken penne and stuffed banana peppers, and Rich grilled bacon wrapped scallops. And maybe I made a cake...it was delish! I'll be putting up some pics and recipes on my other blog soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I can't believe it's Sunday afternoon already!

Some doggie love

Fiona is standing over Dickson trying to coax him into getting up and playing with her. She keeps backing herself up and play growling at him. He's not taking the bait.

So she moves on to try to entice Tanner in some play. She always chews on his lip like in this pic, like she is de-fleaing him (he doesn't have fleas, don't worry).

And finally, when he's had enough of her chewing on him and barking in his ear, he'll turn and chew back. They literally do this for hours.

Her next favorite move is to reach around and bite his back ankles. That usually gets him really fired up. You can see how she uses her right arm to hold his back leg in place so she can chew on it.

These guys keep me entertained for sure. I couldn't imagine my house without several 4-legged friends! What do your pets do that crack you up?

Happy Labor Day

I'm actually working on Labor Day, whine whine. Ok, moving on.

I had a great 3 day weekend. I started feeling bad last Thursday, sore throat and headachy, then felt worse Friday so I called in sick to work. I just laid around all day, and had one of those completely unproductive but wonderful couch days. Saturday I felt a little better but still not great. I did manage to get out for a nice, easy 4 miler which felt fantastic. This cooler weather is SO nice for running. Rich was working all weekend, so me and the pups had the house to ourselves. We did a little cleaning, ran a few errands, and watched several hours of Food Network and Fools Rush In...LOVE that movie!

Yesterday Rich and I got up and hit the gym for a quick half-hour on the elliptical. I really love the elliptical because it's the only form of exercise that I can do while reading. I've tried reading while running on the treadmill, but that didn't work out so well (I fell off). The only bad thing about the elliptical is that it makes my toes go numb, but other than that I really like it.

I was going stir crazy after 2 days home alone, so after Rich left for work I went to the beach with some of our friends. It was a beautiful day, but a little too windy for the beach. We got sandblasted! After a few hours on the beach, we went back to their house and grilled some turkey burgers and hung out for a while. This entire summer has been so busy, and I have either worked, had family in town, or been out of town almost every single weekend since like May. So this lazy weekend was exactly what I had been craving!

Training Update

Hi ya'll, sorry I haven't written in the last week. I've been a bit uninspired and bummed....I'm no longer training for the Outer Banks Marathon in November and am having to limit running to about 10 miles per week. I won't bore you with the details, but it's per doctor's orders for now. So what the heck is this running-addicted gal supposed to do??? Without a training plan on the fridge, I feel lost. I'm going to create my own plan each week full of various workouts like shorter runs, dog walks, strength training, gym classes, biking, etc. In a way I'm looking forward to the variety, and I know that marathons will always be there when I'm all healed and ready to get back to distance running. I've been in a bit of a funk for the last week dealing with this change, but now I feel better about it and ready to move forward with other types of workouts. I swear, exercise keeps me sane!

I'm also starting another blog about my attempt, at least for September, to cook more at home and eat out less. I thought about just combining it with this blog, but I'm guessing a lot of the posts will be short and not all that interesting, so I decided to just create a new one for this project. I'm not a huge fan of blogs that are nothing but pics of food (after awhile all bowls of oatmeal start to look the same), so I hope to post lots of recipes, only post pics of things that seem unique (or that turn out to be a huge mess:)) and just in general document our household challenge of eating home more often. If you want to check it out, here's the address:
http://adventuresinourkitchen.blogspot.com/